Gulen Politicians - aka "Useful tools of Gulen"

This blog is dedicated to the politicians who are the enablers of the Gulen Movement and their "front groups." From Gulen Schools to Gulen's Interfaith Groups, these politicians knowingly or sometimes naively have accepted campaign contributions, honors(snicker, giggles) or the famous FREE trips to Turkey. Thanks to all of you for submitting, lets put the message out to Politicians, if you sell out Americans we will vote you out.

Corrupt Politicians and Tools of the Gulen Movement

Disclaimer: if some videos are disabled this is the work of the Gulen censorship which has filed fake copyright infringement complaints to UTUBE.

Friday, February 9, 2018

law firm hired by the government of Turkey is lobbying state officials across the U.S. about what it alleges is a suspicious network of American charter schools run by a dangerous Turkish opposition leader.

Federal records show Turkey’s lawyers requested meetings in January 2018 with politicians in 26 states and the District of Columbia, including attorneys general, influential legislators and at least one governor — Michigan’s Rick Snyder. The legal team has already sat down with an official in the Arizona attorney general’s office, worked on legislation in Texas and attended school board meetings in California, Louisiana and Massachusetts.

It’s the latest move in a curious propaganda war playing out in America’s state capitals between Turkey’s ruling party and a secretive religious movement that the Center for Public Integrity previously revealed has funded scores of international trips for state lawmakers from places such as Texas and Tennessee. Nonprofits associated with what is commonly called the Gulen movement — named for the elderly Turkish cleric Fetullah Gulen — sponsored subsidized trips to Turkey for at least 151 state lawmakers, the Center for Public Integrity reported last year. Some of the state lawmakers who took the trips later introduced resolutions supporting the movement — or even backed some of the nearly 200 American charter schools linked to it.

“It’s such nonsense what’s going on in these schools,” said Robert Amsterdam, whose firm is leading the government of Turkey’s campaign to inform state leaders of what it calls “suspect” hiring of Turkish teachers and contractors, among other matters. “We think it’s very important for us to get the word out.”

Turkey retained Amsterdam and Partners LLP, an international law firm with offices in London and Washington, D.C., that specializes in cross-border disputes and white-collar crimes, in 2015 as the Gulen movement was falling out of favor with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party. Following a failed coup attempt in July 2016, Turkish leaders sharpened their rhetoric, calling Gulen a terrorist and demanding the U.S. extradite him from the compound in Pennsylvania’s Poconos where he lives in exile.

Turkey then made headlines last fall when former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn was reported to be under investigation for helping to plan to kidnap Gulen and return him to Turkey. The White House has stayed mum about the request, and the Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment about the status of the extradition request.

Within Turkey, the ruling party has jailed more than 40,000 alleged supporters of Gulen and shut down related institutions ranging from news outlets to a bank. Stateside, Turkey has paid at least $1.8 million funding Amsterdam and his team in the effort to undermine the Gulen movement and the schools.

A spokesman for Gulen, Alp Aslandogan, denies that either Gulen or his followers had any involvement in the coup attempt. He said they are not worried about Amsterdam’s efforts with state officials because he is pushing “a toxic brand” — Erdogan. “The moment they realize it they will see the political and monetary motivation behind this,” he said. “Robert Amsterdam is not interested in the education of American kids.”

While spokespeople for the schools have said they aren’t affiliated with Gulen, Aslandogan acknowledged they were “started by individuals who are sympathetic to the Gulen movement.” He said the schools should be judged by their performance, and “by and large, they are doing a very good job.”

Some of the schools, such as those in the Harmony chain in Texas, indeed have won awards and recognition, while others have just mediocre test scores. Still, the schools have been dogged by accusations of financial irregularities and extensive hiring of Turkish citizens.

The new revelations of Turkish lobbying come at a delicate moment for U.S.-Turkey relations. In recent weeks, the two countries have found themselves on opposite sides in Syria, after the Turkish government attacked a Kurdish militia that is supported by American forces. Tensions grew after Turkish officials disputed the White House’s account of a phone call between President Donald Trump and Erdogan.

One of the Turkish government’s lobbying targets is Illinois’ powerful Democratic House Speaker Mike Madigan. John Martin, a lawyer representing Turkey, wrote him an email last week requesting a meeting.

Madigan may seem a surprising choice. He was among those who went on trips to Turkey guided by a Gulen nonprofit — in his case, four trips total. He paid for his hotels and flights and contributed to the cost of the trips, said his spokesman Steve Brown, but state records show he also disclosed at least one of the trips as a gift worth more than $500. Madigan has also appeared in a promotional video for one of the schools linked to the movement, Brown said.

Martin, the lawyer representing Turkey, acknowledges the “awkwardness” of reaching out to state officials such as Madigan who have already had positive experiences with the Gulen movement. “One of our intended messages is, ‘Hey, look, you may have taken a trip with these folks or you may have even received a political contribution,’” he said. “‘We’re here to inform you and let you know who these people are so that the next time your eyes are wide open.’”

But others find such efforts unusually aggressive.

“The zeal with which the Erdogan administration wants to root out and suppress the Gulen movement is surprising to me,” said William Martin, a friend of the Gulen movement and a professor at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. “That is characteristic of an authoritarian regime and not a democratic regime.”

Thursday, February 8, 2018

GOTHAM WILL NO LONGER LOBBY FOR GÜLENISTS: Gotham Government Relations is splitting with the Washington Diplomacy Group, a group aligned with Fethullah Gülen, the Turkish cleric living in Pennsylvania whom the Turkish government blamed for instigating a coup there in 2016. Gotham, a New York lobbying firm that counted President Donald Trump as a client before he became president and opened a Washington office after he won, had lobbied for the Gülenist group since last spring. (The group had been known as the Washington Strategy Group but changed its name after a firm with the same name threatened legal action.) Brad Gerstman, a Gotham partner, said the decision to part ways was mutual. The Gülenist group also retains Bill Smith of Sextons Creek (a former top aide to Vice President Mike Pence who’s now a lobbyist) and the Estopinan Group.

Sunday, January 7, 2018

This blog has mentioned Gulenist Murat Guzel, he is one of the main conduits for bribing US Politicians via his high post at the DNC (Democratic National Committee) and his infiltration of Turkish American groups like TASC and MUSAID.

Murat lives just a few miles away from the Gulen compound and is a frequent visitor to the
Golden Generation Worship and Retreat - 30 acre estate of the Gulen Movement

Guzel works very hard infiltrating and networking all angles for the Gulen Movement from bribes to politicians (he was one of the main money sources for Congressman Cartwright to present a Congressional honor for Gulen) he has also spread himself between TASC and MUSAID. Not only wedging himself as a conduit but a sort of spy reporting back and forth between Erdogan's Camp, Gulen's Camp, TASC and MUSAID. Basically Guzel is a rat that crosses the rat line to benefit Gulen and whatever else suits him. The FBI has questioned him and has an investigation on him, he is very likely giving them information as well

A Turkish-American businessman who is head of the Democratic National Committee’s Heritage Council claimed to have paid a former GOP congressman to write a pro-Turkey op-ed last year and also provided secret updates on his own political activities to members of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s inner circle, newly released emails reveal.

The businessman, Murat Guzel, was also interviewed by the FBI earlier this year along with several Turkish nationals linked to its government, other emails indicate.

The bombshell revelations come from the hacked email account of Berat Albayrak, Turkey’s energy minister and Erdogan’s son-in-law. The emails, which number more than 57,000, were originally released by a hacker collective called RedHack, but they received little attention in the American press until they were published on Monday by WikiLeaks.

The documents, almost all of which are in Turkish, shed light into many secret activities between Erdogan’s government and U.S.-based operatives working to further Turkey’s agenda.

Guzel, who owns Nimeks, an organic juice company based in Pennsylvania, has perhaps the biggest political footprint of any of the operatives identified in the emails.

He has contributed and other top nearly $300,000 to committees that supported Hillary Clinton for president, and his Facebook page is replete with photos he has taken with the former secretary of state Democrats.

Crossing over to speak with WARMONGER Lindsay Graham of South Carolina

Murat Guzel is confused who he is working for? Erdogan? Gulen?
TASC? MUSAID? or perhaps just infiltrating them all for the FBI who has
Murat Guzel under investigation

And writing under his title as chairman of the DNC’s heritage council and as an officer with the National Democratic Ethnic Coordinating Council, Guzel endorsed Clinton in an op-ed published in The Hill on Nov. 2. But in addition to his steadfast support for Democrats and his official positions with the DNC, the emails hacked from Albayrak’s account suggest that Guzel, who is a naturalized American citizen, also appears to have strong allegiances to his native land and to Erdogan. Murat playing both sides is going to get burned, he is a die hard Gulenist but what deal did he cut with the FBI

“To stand by Erdogan and do whatever we can against evil powers is not just an act of kindness but rather an Islamic obligation upon all of us,” he wrote to Albayrak in an Oct. 19, 2014 email which was translated for The Daily Caller by a Turkish citizen.

Erdogan, who is an Islamist, has come under increasing pressure from human rights groups because of his crackdown on the Turkish press and dissenters. RedHack released the Albayrak emails after Erdogan’s government refused to release a group of activists from prison.

Guzel, who is a director at MÜSİAD-USA, a Muslim business association that represents Turkish companies, is seen in the emails reporting his activities to Albayrak as well as to Bilal Erdogan, the son of Turkey’s president, and Ibrahim Kalin, Erdogan’s press secretary.

Some of the emails show that Guzel asked the Turkish officials for help in coordinating his political activities in the U.S. In turn, he was directed to coordinate with other U.S.-based operatives to push Turkey’s political issues.

Murat Guzel's shameless involvement with TASC and MUSAID where he was caught on surveillance camera continually making his way toward anyone of importance to get his photo taken. Most noteable was President Erdogan's daughter- now some memorable moments from TASC and MUSAID

In one Oct. 20, 2015 email, Guzel told Kalin about an op-ed he helped place in The Washington Times written by former Indiana Rep. Dan Burton.

In the piece, entitled “Why Turkey Matters,” Burton, who retired from Congress in 2013, praised Turkey as the U.S.’s “biggest friend and ally” in the Middle East.

Congressman Dan Burton is the person invited by us to AKP Delegation Meetings in Turkey and you can find his article about Turkey below. He had worked over 30 years at the state department as a congressman and we were able to get an article from a very important person and we didn’t spent that much money for it. I have worked alot to make this happen but your help and the time that we spend together help him to make the main points of the article. without your and yasin hoca’s help and warm welcome this article had been not written. Congressman and I appreciate it to both of you.

Kalin thanked Guzel for placing the article.

“Yes it was a good work. Thanks. We need to increase this type of writing. We publish this in Turkish,” he responded.

Guzel also told Albayrak and Bilal Erdogan about a meeting he had in Nov. 2014 with Pennsylvania Rep. Matt Cartwright.

Cartwright had recently praised Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric from Turkey who lives in exile in the Pocono mountains and is Erdogan’s top enemy. Erdogan has for several years accused Gulen and his millions of followers of attempting to undermine the Turkish government. The rivalry reached a peak in July after Erdogan accused Gulen of masterminding a coup.

In his email, Guzel informed Albayrak and the younger Erdogan that he told Cartwright that the Democrat had been the recipient of illegal campaign contributions made by foreigners who support Gulen.

Every Group has a rat and in the Gulen Movement that rat is MURAT GUZEL who is he really working for? Enjoy random tweets from Murat the Rat

TASC was formed as a District of Columbia nonprofit organization in March 2016, and represents Turkish American organizations and mosques across the nation. The TASC Board of Directorsincludes 15 Turkish American leaders. TASC’s Executive Committee includes two Co-Chairpersons, Secretary General Derya Taskin, Treasurer Murat Guzel, Director of Public Relations Mustafa Tuncer, Director of Fund Raising Oya Bain, and Director of Community Relations Dr. Halil Mutlu.

TASC is entirely funded by you, the Turkish American! Through the personal donations of TASC’s members, Directors, and the business community, TASC raised more $180,000 by the Fourth of July, and expects to raise another $150,000 by Christmas!We thank you from the bottoms of our hearts.

Murat Guzel has served as a board member of the Gulenist organization ATCOM which is headed by Ihsan Isik, a founding board member of the now-embattled Truebright Science Academy, a Gulen charter school in Philadelphia that is facing closure. Guzel is mentioned in a Lehigh Valley Live news piece of July 28, 2012 on the Lehigh Dialogue Center. He is listed as President of Nimeks, Incorporated, a Pennsylvania corporation (link) which has Abdulkadir (a.k.a. Kadir) Veziroglu as Treasurer. Veziroglu was on the Founding Coalition of the Allentown Engineering Academy, a proposed Gulen charter school in Allentown, Pennsylvania that was rejected and failed to win an appeal to the Charter Appeal Board of the state of Pennsylvania. Veziroglu's name also appears on the domain registration of nimeks.com, the website of Nimeks, Inc. The one other corporate officer for Nimeks, Inc. currently listed on the Pennsylvania Department of State website is Erol Cebeci, who quite possibly may be the Erol Aslan Cebeci of the SETA think tank and ATCOM. SETA, which has branches in Turkey and Washington DC, was said in a 2010 Congressional Research Report by Carol Migdalovitz to be tied to the Gulen Movement. (More recent webpages (e.g. link) emerging out of the website of SETA's Turkish branch suggest that it has taken Erdogan's side in the Gulen-Erdogan split, but this does not erase SETA's past Gulenist ties.) The campaignmoney.com website shows Murat Guzel as having made a total of $57,300 in political donations in the 2014 election cycle. Guzel was a delegate at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. It is unknown whether the above-mentioned Murat Guzel has a relation to a Murat Guzel who was a board member of the Wellspring Cultural and Education Foundation, a Gulenist organization in Connecticut.